With the Capital city experiencing winter ahead of the schedule, and the minimum temperature equivalent to several hill stations, power discoms Tata Power Delhi Distribution (Tata Power-DDL) and BSES are fully prepared to ensure adequate power availability during this winter season to residents of Delhi.
According to the officials of the India Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature will be comparatively lower this season vis-a-vis previous years. Tata Power - DDL is prepared with its action plan to provide relief, assuring 24X7 power supply to all the essential services and its consumers.
It has also been noted that 40 per cent of Delhi winter demand is because of the heating loads of geysers and heaters, and the company is geared up to manage the peak power demand in case of severe winters.
The company is expecting the peak demand to touch 1700 MW this season and has made long-term power tie-ups for meeting the same effectively. A total of 2000 MW of power is available from long-term sources with the company which would help the anticipated demand.
The overall winter peak demand for Delhi is expected to touch a record high of 5400 MW. On January 1, 2020 (last winter season), Delhi touched the record peak demand of 5343 MW as Tata Power-DDL’s recorded its all-time high of 1588 MW.
“We are fully prepared to ensure warm and safe winters to our consumers and this is only possible through an uninterrupted power supply. We have made surplus arrangement of up to 300 MW over and above the expected peak demand, which will also cater to the contingencies. Besides this, we are using a mix of smart technologies like AI & Machine Learning for better load forecasting to provide reliable power supply to all our consumers,” said Ganesh Srinivasan, CEO, Tata Power-DDL.
A senior official said that Tata Power-DDL’s power-supply arrangements during the winter-months include long-term agreements from power-plants like Maithon Power, NTPC Stations, and Delhi based gas fuelled generating stations. Additionally, the company will also be receiving around 20 MW from ‘Solar Energy Corporation of India’ (SECI),180 MW from Sunedison GreenKo and around 30 MW from wind energy, he said.
Apart from these, Tata Power-DDL is also using advanced techniques and avenues like ‘Banking’, ‘Reserve Shutdown’, ‘Power Exchange’ and ensuring sufficient ‘Spinning Reserves’ to dispose of surplus power, he added.
Meanwhile, a senior BSES official said that the BSES is also receiving 190 plus MW of wind power, 25 MW from Waste-to Energy and 70 MW of solar power from SECI. It is also being helped by 90 MW of roof-top solar power installed on roof-tops in South, West, East and Central Delhi.
Apart from these, BSES discoms are using avenues like “Banking”, “Reserve Shutdown”, “Power Exchange” and ensuring sufficient “Spinning Reserves” to dispose of surplus power as well as ensuring reliable power supply, as also making arrangements to get power during summer months, he said, adding that in case of any unforeseeable contingency, BSES discoms will buy short-term power from the exchange which is available at economical rates.
The official further said that the BRPL will bank between upto 450 MW with states like Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Tamil Nadu. “On its part, BYPL is expected to bank upto 100 MW with states like Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Goa from whom it had taken the quantum during the summer-months,” he said.